And gave Sasha the finger when she smirked at him.
Tom put his napkin down. ‘So. I know some things now.’
Everyone stopped talking. ‘Like?’ Mercy prompted.
‘Like what’s in that safe-deposit box,’ Tom said. ‘The box held a spiral notebook, handwritten. Two different writers – Ephraim and Edward. Or Harry and Aubrey, if you prefer. It was a list of all the things they’d done – in Eden and before. But it wasn’t just a detail of the brothers’ activities. The sins of Pastor and Waylon were noted as well. In graphic detail.’
‘Why?’ Farrah asked. ‘Why would they write that down?’
‘It’s a dead man’s switch,’ André said, ‘or an insurance policy. If one of them gets killed mysteriously, the records will be shared, usually with the newspaper or law enforcement. It’s a way to keep order among the criminals. Otherwise they would have turned on each other years ago.’
‘Which is why Belinda Franklin said she hadn’t used the key,’ Mercy murmured. ‘She said her baby was dead, but she didn’t use the key. Because Aubrey wasn’t killed by one of the other Founders.’
Gideon’s mouth tightened and Daisy hooked her hand around his arm, pressing a kiss to his biceps. ‘I’m glad he’s dead,’ she said fiercely, but Gideon’s gaze flicked to Mercy before looking away.
‘Gideon. Look at me.’ Mercy leaned across the table to grab a handful of his sleeve, yanking until he met her eyes. ‘Now listen to me. I’m glad you killed him. I’m glad you got away. And if I’d known the truth back then, I still would have been happy you got away.’
Gideon swallowed hard. ‘But you didn’t get away.’
Inclining her head, she let go of his sleeve and clasped his hand. ‘Yes, I did. Eventually. And it was awful, I’m not gonna lie. But I’m also not lying when I say that had I known then what I know now, I still would have been glad. Now wrap your mind around that, because it’s the truth and until we put this behind us, we can’t move forward.’
Gideon’s mouth twitched up at the corners. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
Mercy gave him a hard nod. ‘All right, then. Tom, what else did the notebooks say?’
Tom cleared his throat, his expression momentarily shaken by the exchange. Rafe knew how he felt. He loved Gideon like a brother, and Mercy . . . well, not like a sister at all. The two had suffered so much and Rafe desperately wanted to make them okay, but all he could do was be there for them.
And help them track down the assholes who’d hurt them. One down, two to go.
Tom squared his jaw, a determined gleam in his eyes, and Rafe had the feeling that this guy was going to be key in taking Eden down.
‘All right,’ Tom said, having regained his composure. ‘The parts you need to know at this point are that Pastor and Waylon met at Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution. Pastor was arrested as Benton Travis for forgery and money laundering, and that does appear to be his real name. He met Waylon in prison, just as you suspected. They were, according to Aubrey Franklin, running drugs in the prison. Aubrey came along a little later and they became friends, so when Aubrey botched the bank robbery, he reached out. Waylon and Pastor had already fled to the first Eden site. They gave Aubrey a very rudimentary map, which Ephraim re-created in the notebook, so in time, we may be able to find that first site.’
‘Why would you want to?’ Mercy asked. ‘They aren’t there any longer.’
‘But Amos said that they reuse locations, so maybe they’ll go back,’ Gideon said, clearly excited. ‘What else don’t we yet know?’
‘That Pastor transferred all the money he was given by his new members to offshore accounts, which, again, is something we suspected, but they’ve been sitting on that money for thirty years. The money was to be split between the “Founding Elders”.’
‘Who were Pastor, Waylon, Ephraim, and Edward,’ Gideon said.
Tom shook his head. ‘Apparently there was a fifth Founding Elder. Ephraim wrote about him in the notebook. Called him “Doc”. Said he died three years after they started the community, but that he was really old, so no one suspected foul play.’
‘That’s news to me,’ Gideon said, ‘but I arrived a few years after that. I never heard him mentioned. But back to the money. How do you know that they’ve been sitting on it? They could have spent it.’
Tom shook his head. ‘Not according to Ephraim Burton. He visited the box regularly to make updates in the notebook, using his Eustace Carmelo ID. The last time he updated his record was about six months ago. Pastor had shown them the ledger and their account had grown to more than fifty million dollars. With Waylon and Aubrey gone, the money would be split between Pastor, DJ, and Ephraim.’
Mercy gasped, and she wasn’t alone. ‘Fifty million?’
Rafe whistled quietly. ‘That is one helluva motive for Ephraim and DJ to want to kill each other.’
‘Especially since DJ obviously lied about my death,’ Mercy said, still shaking her head in disbelief at the amount the founders had hoarded. ‘Once Ephraim found out, he had leverage on DJ. All Ephraim needed was to haul me back to Eden and DJ would’ve been toast.’
Rafe sucked in a breath so sharp that it hurt. ‘Sonofabitch.’
‘And all DJ needed was for Ephraim to be dead so he couldn’t tell,’ Gideon said grimly.
‘We would have been icing on the cake, Gideon,’ Mercy said. ‘Still might be. As long as I’m alive, I’m a risk to his position. I mean, it’s only a big deal if Pastor finds out, I guess, but DJ has to know now that we’ll be actively looking for Eden. Fifty million is a lot of reasons to keep us quiet.’
Farrah’s eyes narrowed in dismay. ‘Mercy Callahan. Don’t talk like that.’
Rafe’s blood went ice cold. ‘We need a safe house for you.’ He’d thought about it the night before, but he’d been too tired to articulate it to Mercy, knowing she’d be resistant. But his fear from the day before returned and he blurted it out in a rush.
Mercy reached for Farrah’s hand while shaking her head sadly. ‘No. I know you want us to be safe, but we could hide forever and he could wait us out. That’s not living, Rafe. I’ve come too far to hide now. What we need is to find Eden and stop DJ and Pastor. And then set everyone in Eden free.’
She was right. He knew that she was, even as the chicken and waffles churned in his gut. He’d finally found her. He couldn’t lose her now. But locking her away wasn’t the answer, either. ‘Then let’s find Eden.’
Tom nodded once. ‘That’s my job.’